Fear Television
Look! Submit a logo for the network to me, and you may get your logo put up on the wiki! Fear Television (often shortened to Fear TV) is an American basic cable and satellite television network launched on August 13, 2010, and is owned by Viacom through Viacom Media Networks and based in New York City. The channel primarily features horror shows & movies, but also shows fantasy, supernatural, drama, and Halloween specials of various TV shows owned by many different Viacom Media Networks TV channels. History Making of On May 3, 2009, Danny Stewart proposed his idea of a TV channel focused on horror. He first proposed his idea to Turner Broadcasting System, they declined his offer, as they thought there would not be enough content to supply a 24-7 network of nothing but horror. Stewart tried again on September 26, 2009, having mostly the same concept, except the network wouldn't focus on just horror, but also things like fantasy & supernatural. TBS once again declined, this time stating there wasn't much demand for another TV channel at the time, since they'd already been working on a new TV channel (later became Chilevisión). Frustrated, Danny fell into a depression, as he'd been fired from his previous job as a creative director. He then decided to take his idea for a horror TV channel to Viacom Media Networks. The President of the company, Bob Bakish, adored the idea, stating that he'd always wanted a television station based on horror. He didn't like option A, however, the one that focused solely on horror, but he was willing to help him with option B, with other subjects. Danny worked with Viacom for many months to help the design company make a good logo, come up with good advertisements, show ideas, and after about 3 quarters of a year, Fear Television was launched to the public. Reception Reviews were very positive, as the idea of a horror TV channel in the past was never very successful. Critics had mixed reviews on the network's original programming, as some were poorly written, yet others were very well written. Most of the praised TV shows were written by Danny himself, whereas the "okay" TV shows were written by others that Viacom hired. 2014 rebrand (Hell Era) After the channel had done remarkably well, and channel execs had more money to work with, the company agreed that it was time for a change, as the channel at the time had somewhat unprofessional looking logos, bumpers, etc. And so began, as fans have nicknamed it, the Hell Era. It was nicknamed as such because many of the network's bumpers & screen bugs had the color red, including the split screen credits that would show at the end of most programs. 2017 rebrand (Old Timey Era) In 2017, Fear TV went under an extensive rebrand, which changed the logo, added new bumpers, changed screen bug positions, and screen bugs themselves. This era, unlike its predecessor, was received as a good change, as many weren't fond of the newer logo, saying that the weird font made the logo awkward to read. Many also said that the logo had a weird space, as instead of the usual square or rectangle logo, Fear TV had one large rectangle (the FEAR portion) and the TV below, which made it a weird kind of shape, which as a screen bug looked very strange. This era brings a new theme to the network, as the previous theme was creepy, hell-themed bumpers and scary music to accompany it. This new theme embraces cheap horror effects, as well as old thriller movies, such as Psycho (1960). Bumpers have generic screaming sound effects, along with jumpscare popup zombies, skeletons, and more. The logo is heavily inspired by the ever-so popular fonts from these old thriller movies, that being bold, bumpy fonts purposefully drawn ruggedly. Controversies Since many horror movies and TV shows have a large amount of gore and violence, they usually carry an R/TV-MA rating, and having this rating allows them to have much more risque than other genres. So, with a horror based TV channel, there are bound to be different topics that are deemed controversial by the public. Raw Fear Every Friday at midnight, the channel has a block named Midnight Magic. This block runs from 12AM-5AM, and consists of uncut TV shows and movies. Blocks like these are common with many cable channels, as uncensored content is usually risk free at these times of the night, but Fear Television took it up a level when on July 16, 2013, they aired The Shining, without any censorship of any kind. This meant that the naked lady in the bathtub was completely exposed. This resulted in strong backlash from the public, since Fear Television isn't a premium cable channel, and it aired at 2:30AM, a time of night where children usually will wake up to go to the bathroom, wake from a nightmare, etc. A lawsuit was carried out by one enraged woman, but was unsuccessful, as what Fear TV did was not illegal, but just uncommon. In the end, Fear TV apologized for the incident, and ever since then have always censored any nudity. Series List Movies List All other movies only are given syndication rights for the time they are aired, and they must be rented again by the network for them to show it. So, they will not be shown on this list. Blocks Fear Movies This block airs on Friday and Sunday nights from 8:00 to 12:00. It shows 1-2 horror movies, and has specially-created bumpers and screen bugs that are shown during the block. Raw Fear This block airs every weekday from 1AM to 5AM, and consists of uncut movies and TV shows. It has been the center of controversy ever since its debut back on February 25, 2013, but has continued to air since then. 13 Days of Hell This block is much like Freeform's annual programming block. It consists of nonstop uncut horror movies, which is the only time you'll ever get to watch an uncut movie on the channel during daylight. The block is much more popular than Freeform's, however, as many people tune in every night during it to watch movies with their friends near the Halloween season. Warning Labels Fear TV will only warn people on the parental rating of a program if it is rated TV-14-DLSV, or any TV-MA rating. The warnings have no voice over, just creepy music playing in the background. It plays for 7.5 sec. before moving onto the program. Errors On December 3, 2010, the split-screen credits system failed, as the credits played as soon as the program (The Happy Tree Friends Show) played, and stayed there for the rest of the show. This error wasn't very infamous or anything, since it was a one-time thing that wasn't seen by many, but footage is available. On September 21, 2012, the screen bugs (all on-screen icons/logos) were all changed to offensive text, for example, the logo in the bottom right corner said the n-word, and the parental rating said "shit", which caused public outrage. The network wasn't sued for this, as it was said to be a hack, but the incident became very infamous, since these edited screen bugs aired on every program for 4 hours, due to a lack of engineers on duty at the time. Screen Bugs The screen bugs on Fear TV are of same properties as most screen bugs on other cable networks. It has the standard Viacom parental ratings & closed captioning symbol, and an animated screen bug containing the logo of the network, but with Television shortened to TV. The screen bugs are not compatible with 4:3 televisions, though, as they expand to the 16:9 areas. All have a transparency of about 50%. Fear Television, like most television networks, has a split-screen credits system. It displays at the end of most shows, showing the credits while also showing the end of the program. It uses a white and dark gray color scheme, and after these screen bugs, the end credit logo videos play, for example, 20th Century Fox Television. Marathons and Special Events Fear Television will often have marathons and special events, mainly around Halloween. The following is a list of the events that go on during the year on Fear Television. * 24 Hours of The Exorcist - Perhaps one of the most well-known traditions of Fear TV, just behind the block 13 Days of Hell, 24 Hours of The Exorcist is a self-explanatory block. It airs 24 hours of nothing but the critically acclaimed horror film The Exorcist from 12AM-12AM Halloween day. It is also a limited commercial presentation, meaning commercials only air every 30 minutes, much less compared to the normal 15 minutes. * Fear Movie Night - Every Friday night, Fear TV airs a horror movie, unfortunately cut, that varies each night, from Halloween to Nightmare on Elm Street. * Scary Movie Day - Every April Fools (April 1st), Fear TV airs Scary Movie 1-5 for the entire day. This block is very unordinary, as it is one of the only times in which you can find a comedy program on Fear TV Bumpers, Indents, and other Media The following is a gallery of bumpers and indents for Fear TV. Please do not add any pictures or videos without contacting me first. Category:TV Channels